Society Builders (Duane Varan)

How can you best engage withe the prevalent discourses of society?  In this episode, we explore FIVE stages one should consider in engaging with a discourse:

1. Prioritizing which discourse to engage with.
2. 'Reading society' and getting familiar with the discourse.
3. Immersion in the Baha'i Writings in search of relevant insights.
4. Sharing insights in ways that be best understood and welcomed.
5. Reflection - an iterative cycle of action and reflection.

CHAPTERS

0:00 Introduction
3:27 Choosing a Discourse
9:39 Reading Society
17:02 Turning to the Writings
20:28 ‘Hearable’ Insights
24:27 Reflection
29:30 Closing Thoughts

On November 28, 2023, the Universal House of Justice shared its message providing a history of our organic evolution as a community over the past hundred years.  This episode explores parts of that message addressing the 'society building' focus across four key themes: the organic evolution of initiatives, our interaction with wider society, principles for society building and the interplay between the forces of integration and disintegration at work in the world today.

An exploration of the Ridvan Message of 2024 by the Universal House of Justice.

The message explores the interaction between the forces of disintegration and integration at work in the world today - highlighting the inescapable need for a sustained, rapid rise in the number of those committing their time, energy and concentration to the success of our peace-building initiatives.

CONTENTS:
0:00 Introduction
1:26 Dark Times
8:15 Our Role as Haven
11:24 Methods & Instruments
12:58 Our Message
16:19 Closing Thoughts

An interview with award-winning journalist Amanda Ripley who shares insights on the science of bringing antagonistic groups together based on her recent best-selling book, High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out.  

Includes discussion on evidence-based strategies for depolarization and on 
how the Baha'i community serves as a role model in this arena.

CONTENTS

0:00 Introduction
5:20 Background to the Book
11:29 Avoiding High Conflict
16:03 Feeling Heard
19:10 Breaking Binaries
21:00 Avoiding Conflict Entrepreneurs
32:12 Cultivating Calm
35:40 Complicating the Narrative
39:29 Reaching a Saturation Point 
41:56 The Baha’i Community as Model
47:48 Hope & Human Triumph
50:15 Applications for the Workplace
53:00 Closing Thoughts

In the late 19th century, governance in Iran was in desperate need of reform.  Corruption was rife and the country was being sold off through foreign concessions. In this episode, eminent Baha'i scholar, Dr. Moojan Momen, provides the historical context and background to two key books authored by Abdul-Baha (one still yet to be translated) which engage in this social discourse and helped bring about Iran's first democratic institutions.  This is the first of two parts - providing the background context to the larger narrative.

This episode, the second in our trilogy, continues our study of the message of the Universal House of Justice of December 30, 2021 providing us with our mandate for society building.  In this episode, we explore the fourth section of the message which focuses on social transformation.

This episode continues the interview with Dr. Moojan Momen exploring the contributions of the early Persian Baha'is in the rise of Iran's first democratic institutions.  It explores how Baha'is acted on the guidance provided by Abdul-Baha to contribute to society building in their day through governance reform and how this impacted Iran's reform movement.  But it also explores how Baha'is shifted their focus away from such political reform once it became divisive and instead focused on social reforms in health and education.

An interview with Dr. Lisa Schirch, a global authority on social media's impact on polarization. 

Here, Dr. Schirch explains how the algorithms that drive social media platforms favor polarization, a force further amplified by malicious foreign actors exploiting the platforms.

She also explores solutions at the individual level designed to improve our media diet and improve our etiquette of expression.

CONTENTS

0:00 Introduction
2:10 How social media amplify polarization
14:27 Feeding our lower nature
19:05 The death of ‘objective’ news
31:00 Case Study: Myanmar
37:12 Solutions for us as individuals
46:02 The need for in-person interaction
50:46 The future for social media
53:17 Closing Thoughts

The term 'discourse' means different things to different academic disciplines.  There's a difference, for example, between political vs. scientific discourse.  In this episode, we explore what discourse means to Baha'is, focusing on five key characteristics:

1. A unifying focus;
2. We view discourse as consultative;
3. We strive for an uplifting approach;
4. Our contributions are principled;
5. We focus on constructive solutions.

We close the episode also exploring approaches which we should avoid.

CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction
4:34 What is Discourse?
12:40 A Unifying Focus
22:38 Discourse as Consultation
29:10 An Uplifting Approach
33:50 Principled Contributions
37:53 Constructive Solutions
40:34 What to Avoid
44:36 Conclusions

This is the first in a 3 part sequence exploring how the early American Baha'i community championed race unity - perhaps the best example of society building by Baha'is in the Western World.  This episode explores the historical context prior to Abdul-Baha's arrival in America.  We explore how 'scientific racism' marred racial attitudes throughout America - and how churches that once championed the abolition of slavery now turned a blind eye - setting the stage for Abdul-Baha'is engagement with the race discourse in America upon His arrival in 1912.

In this episode, we explore how the efforts of Baha'i communities worldwide in 'community building' over the past 25 years now lay the foundation for the 'society building' of the next 25 years.  In particular, we focus on four key achievements: 1) The rise of a system of learning, empowering communities to cultivate the resources they need; 2) The shift in focus for service at the neighborhood level; 3) The fusion of believer and collaborator from wider society; and 4) the growing leadership of our youth.  Each of these key achievements are critical to the pattern of society building moving forward.

This episode continues the theme of reflection from episode 4.  Where episode 4 celebrated our victories of the past 25 years, this episode explores some of our potential mistakes.  The episode focuses on four possible mistakes: allowing our sense of focus to exclude other vital community functions; rigid approaches to the needs of the Plans; insufficient regard for the needs of those less engaged; and a lack of scientific analysis in our study and reflection of initiatives.  The episode concludes with a special appeal to those who still feel hurt by such mistakes, inviting them to re-engage.

Hot off the press, this episode explores the 2023 Ridvan Message of the Universal House of Justice to the Baha'is of the World, celebrating the key achievements of the past year while articulating priorities for the upcoming one.  It's inspiring guidance shaping the society building endeavors for Baha'i communities worldwide.

This episode continues our interview with eminent Baha'i historian, Dr. Moojan Momen, on the transformation of education in Iran facilitated by the Persian Baha'i community's network of over 60 schools spread throughout the nation.  At a time when Iran was almost entirely illiterate, the literacy rate in the Baha'i community was near universal.  It's a remarkable story.  In this episode we explore the impact this network of schools had in Iran - and the circumstances that led to their closure by imperial decree in 1934. 

An exploration of Bahá’í-inspired approaches to social action, one of the key pillars of 'society building'.  

In Part One, we explore two key principles: Organic Growth (that initiatives should start small and grow over time) and coherence (finding balance between our material and spiritual needs).

CONTENTS

0:00 Introduction
5:10 Organic Growth
20:13 Coherence
29:06 Closing Thoughts

An interview with award-winning scholar, Dr. Peter Coleman, sharing his research at Columbia University's 'Difficult Conversations Lab', exploring the variables best contributing to bringing antagonistic groups closer together.

In this 'power hour', discover the main principles which have emerged in the
scientific literature for effective depolarization.  This includes the benefits of complicating the narrative, the power of movement, pursuing a common goal, the limits of contact theory, appreciating the temporal dimension of change, positive deviance, shaping first impressions, articulating theories of change, maintaining a strong positive-to-negative comment ratio.  

Dr. Coleman also shares details about his 4 week, daily training program, 'The Challenge'.

Key references:

Cross-cutting structure (4:24)
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3088437

Movie: A Walk in the Woods (20:11)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Walk_in_the_Woods_(film)

Habitat for Humanity (23:04)
https://www.habitat.org/

Movie: The First Step (24:15)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_First_Step_(film)

Allport's Contact Theory (27:02)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_hypothesis

Positive Deviance (33:56) 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_deviance
https://www.amazon.com/Power-Positive-Deviance-Unlikely-Innovators/dp/1422110664

Blum's Islands of Agreement (35:19)
https://www.amazon.com/Islands-Agreement-Managing-Enduring-Rivalries/dp/067402446X

Derek Kilmer (37:48)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Kilmer

Sensitivity to Initial Conditions (39:03)
https://sites.psu.edu/academy/2016/04/25/sensitive-dependence-of-initial-conditions/

Chasin's Public Conversation's Project (40:53)
https://www.publicconversations.org/

Popper's Clock vs Cloud Problem (44:31)
http://www.the-rathouse.com/2011/Clouds-and-Clocks.html

The Negativity Bias (47:20)
https://positivepsychology.com/3-steps-negativity-bias

Gottman's Love Lab (48:52)
https://www.gottman.com/love-lab/

Starts with Us - The Challenge (52:17)
https://findingthewayout.startswith.us/

--

Chapters:

0:00 Introduction
8:40 Complicating the Narrative
15:53 The Power of Movement 
23:47 Pursuing A Common Goal
26:04 Contact Theory
33:03 Positive Deviance
38:27 Shaping First Impressions
42:37 Theories of Change
46:31 Positive/Negative Ratio
50:48 The “Challenge”
53:50 Advice for Baha’i Communities
56:05 Closing Thoughts

An interview with Andrea Bartoli, former dean of a number of prestigious conflict resolution schools; diplomat; and President of the Sant'Egidio Foundation for Peace and Dialogue.  

Andrea shares insights from his participation in a number of successful peace initiatives, starting with efforts that brought an end to the civil war in Mozambique.  He also shares lessons learned through Sant'Egidio, a Catholic force for peace.

An exploration of Bahá’í-inspired approaches to depolarization building on what we've been learning over the past few episodes from the world's leading luminaries in this discourse.

Part One explores what we can do to limit the influence of toxic polarization in our own lives and how we can best regulate our own behavior so we don't unintentionally contribute to the problem.

Show notes:
Dr. Peter Coleman's Polarization Detox Challenge: https://startswith.us/pdc/
Gary Friedman: https://understandinginconflict.org/training/

Chapters
0:00 Introduction
8:09 Five Principles for Depolarization
10:26 Polarization as Social Pollutant
21:41 An Etiquette of Expression
29:10 Training for Depolarization
31:32 Closing Thoughts

An interview with Nealin Parker, Executive Director of Common Ground USA, exploring the range of like-minded organizations contributing to depolarization (including over 6,700 such organizations in the US alone).

Nealin explores the different approaches such organizations take and provides guidance on how to find collaborators, assess  their quality and best engage with them.

She also explores the  role of neighborhoods, society building and more.

Organization referenced in episode (in order of appearance): 

• Living Room Conversations (www.livingroomconversations.org)
• Preemptive Love Coalition (Love Anyway Feasts) (www.preemptivelove.org/feast-templates)
• Braver Angels (www.braverangels.org)
• Listen First Coalition (www.listenfirstproject.org/listen-first-coalition)
• Telos (www.telosgroup.org)
• Make America Dinner (www.makeamericadinneragain.com)
• The People’s Supper (www.thepeoplessupper.org)
• Resetting the Table (www.resettingthetable.org)
• Bridge USA (www.bridgeusa.org)
• Campus Conversation (www.aascu.org/resources/campus-conversations-toolkit)
• Sustained Dialog (www.sustaineddialogue.org)
• Solia (www.solia.net)
• American Exchange Project (www.americanexchangeproject.org)
• Shoulder to Shoulder (www.shouldertoshouldercampaign.org)
• Telos (www.telosgroup.org)
• Interfaith America (www.interfaithamerica.org)
• Habitat for Humanity (www.habitat.org)
• One America Movement (www.oneamericamovement.org)
• City Year (www.cityyear.org)
• AmeriCorps (www.americorps.gov)
• Red Cross (www.redcross.org)
• United Way (www.unitedway.org)
• All Sides (www.allsides.com)
• The Flip Side (www.theflipside.io)

CONTENTS

0:00 Introduction
3:45 Mapping Depolarization
11:21 Flavors of Depolarization
17:50 Cooking as Unifier
22:37 Interfaith Dialog
25:17 Service as Unifier
28:08 Finding Collaborators
30:11 Assessing Quality
33:41 The Role of Neighborhood
38:55 Society Building
48:21Engaging with the Like-Minded
51:37 Closing Thoughts

This is the second in a 3 part sequence exploring how the early American Baha'i community championed race unity - perhaps the best example of society building by Baha'is in the Western World.  This episode explores Abdul-Baha's engagement with the American race unity discourse - focusing on His talks to African-American audiences in 1912.  This sets the stage for our next episode where we explore the impact this all had on both the transformation of the American Baha'i community and on the nascent Civil Right's movement.

This episode continues to explore how vision gets effectively translated into reality.  But where Part One explores this at the individual level, Part Two explores this at a community level.  How can a collective group of people work together to bring vision into fruition?  And what role does vision play in stimulating and channelling unified action?  It's an episode you won't want to miss.

In our last two episodes, we explored how the early Persian Baha'i community engaged in society building by helping facilitate a discourse on governance reform for Iran.  But with the enactment of Iran's first constitution, the reform movement grew increasingly divisive resulting in Abdul-Baha advising the Persian Baha'i community to disengage with political reform and instead focus its energies on address social reform.  Baha'is then turned their attention to, among other needs, transforming education in Iran by promulgating a network of over 60 across the entire Iranian nation.  This is the first in a two part series exploring this amazing chapter in our history.  It features an interview with Dr. Moojan Momen who in this episode provides the historical context and explores the rise of this network of schools.  The story continues in our next episode where we'll explore the impact this all had on wider Iranian society.

The third in a three part trilogy exploring how the early American Baha'i community championed race unity - perhaps the best example of society building by Baha'is in the Western World.  This episode explores the impact the work of the early American Baha'i community had in the evolution of the nascent Civil Rights Movement.  It features interviews with Dr. Robert Stockman, Dr. Gayle Morrison, Dr. Chris Buck and Dr. Guy Emerson Mount.

This is the first of a three part trilogy exploring the message of the Universal House of Justice of December 30, 2021 laying out the vision for Society Building for the global Baha'i community for the next 25 years.  Part 1 (this episode) explores the 'bookends' of the message - the first and last sections.

The series introduction to the Society Builders podcast - a response to the call for the release of the society-building power of the Baha'i Faith in ever-increasing measures.  

An interview with global pioneer in mediation training, Gary Friedman, co-founder of the Center for Understanding in Conflict which has trained over 10,000 mediators.  Gary has taught at both Harvard and Stanford and for the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva and the American Bar Association and is the author of three books.  In this episode, Gary shares his 'understanding-based' model of mediation, providing strategies to help those in conflict better understand each other in their path towards finding resolution.

An exploration of Bahá’í-inspired approaches to depolarization building on what we've been learning over the past few episodes from the world's leading luminaries in this discourse.

Part Two explores what we can do to help 're-humanize' the other and how we can better listen to and understand others so that they truly feel 'heard'.

CONTENTS

0:00 Introduction
3:19 Re-Humanization
18:51 Active Listening
24:33 Closing Thoughts

In a truly blockbuster episode, we discover how most modern discourse (on issues like world peace, race unity, the empowerment of women and more) was influenced by Abdul-Baha and the generation he inspired.  Fasten your seatbelts for this one... you'll be blown away by what you discover.  You'll be truly surprised by just how extensive the influence of the early Baha'i community was in the evolution of key ideas including affirmative action, black pride, the Parents Teachers Association, the moment of silence commemorating the fallen of the First World War and so much more. Includes interview segments with leading Baha'i scholars including (in order of appearance) Dr. Guy Emerson Mount, Dr. Robert Stockman, Dr. Roy Steiner, Dr. Moojan Momen, Kathryn Jewett Hogenson and Paul Hanley.

This is the first in a two part episode exploring the capacity to translate vision into reality.  When vision is accompanied by faith, determination and action, you can write the history of tomorrow, today.  In this episode, we explore the art of 'fashioning' - the ability to bring vision into fruition.  

The third and final episode in a sequence exploring Bahá’í-inspired approaches to depolarization.

Part three explores how to break false binaries and how to optimize conditions for contact between antagonistic groups, including a strong positive-to-negative ratio, facilitating synchronicity, empowering participant agency, dialog over debate and the role of theories of change.

In this episode we explore the recent message which the Universal House of Justice sent to the Baha'is in Iran on Naw Ruz (March 20th, 2024).  The message is not only important for the love and admiration which the Universal House of Justice showers on the Persian Bahá’i community, suffering under intense and relentless persecution, but also because in many ways, it represents the next chapter, building on its November 28, 2023 message - helping us navigate a path to universal peace.  The episode also explores the Universal House of Justice's message of January 18, 2019, which they reference here, exploring strategies for peace building and the promotion of the oneness of the human race.  

Key references
Mar 20, 2024 Naw Ruz Message: https://payamha-iran.org/en/document/833
Nov 28, 2023 Message: https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/the-universal-house-of-justice/messages/20231128_001/1
Jan 18, 2019 Message: https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/the-universal-house-of-justice/messages/20190118_001/1

CONTENTS:
0:00 Introduction

2:12 Love for Persian Baha’is

7:55 State of the World

12:40 Key Milestones for Peace

19:44 Disintegration on the Rise

24:07 A Crisis of Identity

29:36 Agency & Peace Building

34:11 Peace as Meta Narrative

37:19 Closing Thoughts

An interview with Rabbi Roly Matalon sharing his efforts to promote depolarization including an amazing exchange which saw representatives of his very progressive-liberal congregation living with MAGA supporters for three days - followed by their living with his congregation for three days.  The results of this exchange will move you and highlight the power of personal transformation in better learning to understand others.

An exploration of Bahá’í-inspired approaches to social action, one of the key pillars of 'society building'.  

In Part Two, we explore how our approaches should be participatory, giving agency to all.  We discuss how this builds on the construct of 'universal participation' and frame agency as both right and responsibility.  We conclude by focusing on the change each of us can make in our lives and in the lives of the communities around us.

CONTENTS

0:00 Introduction
2:19 What is Agency?
6:45 Universal Participation
10:17 Agency as Empowerment
17:48 Agency as Responsibility
19:47 Personal Action
22:35 Concluding thoughts
25:04 Song: "Break Free"

This episode, the third in our trilogy, continues our study of the message of the Universal House of Justice of December 30, 2021, providing us with our mandate for society building.  The episode features an interview with Dr. Kynan Feeney, a former Auxiliary Board member, summarizing the remaining 27 paragraphs of the message, addressing clusters, training institutes and Baha'i administration.